snoring

Snoring is an extremely common problem in adults, and can interrupt your sleep. You just don’t get the high quality sleep you need when you snore. Not to mention it can be extremely annoying for anyone who may be sharing your bed with you. Those of you who suffer with snoring, whether it be yours or your partners, will be happy to know that there are plenty natural remedies to ease or cease snoring. We’ve included four surprising (and simple) remedies here to get you started.

What Causes Snoring?

Before we get started with our four surprising remedies for snoring, lets take a look at what actually causes the snoring in the first place. Reasons for snoring range from the mundane to the serious, although more serious complications are incredibly rare. Snoring may be caused by any of the following items:

being overweight

swelling of the tissue during the last month of pregnancy

sleep apnea

deviated septum

sinus issues

nasal polyps

swelling of the mouth palate, uvula, adenoids, or tonsils

bone abnormalities of the face

use of sleeping pills, antihistamines, or alcohol at or just before bedtime

Ready to learn how you can fix your snoring issues? Keep reading to find out about our four surprising remedies for snoring!

1. Change Your Sleeping Position

Changing your sleeping position can greatly reduce snoring, or even do away with it completely. Although sleeping flat on your back with just a thin pillow to help support your neck is ideal for your spine, it is decidedly not ideal for those who snore. This position places a lot of extra weight on your chest, neck, and jaw because of the way your body distributes weight when laying flat. If you want to ease your snoring or do away with it completely, there are two sleeping positions you could try.

The first sleeping position is to lay on your back, but with your head elevated about four inches. There are special pillows you can buy to support the ideal position, but stacking pillows is another one. This helps to relax your jaw and throat muscles so you can breath easier while you sleep.

The second sleeping position is to sleep on your side. It can be whichever side you are most comfortable with. Feel free to use a body pillow to help maintain this position throughout the night. Some people have even taken drastic measures to ensure they do not roll over onto their back in the middle of the night, such as taping tennis balls to the back of their pajamas. You might not need to take such drastic measures, of course, but it is always an option.

Additional Tips

If you’re prone to snoring and are sick, or suffering from severe allergies, you may want to try sleeping in a recliner. This helps you to properly maintain a good sleeping position which will decrease or prevent snoring.

Placing a pillow or two beneath your knees while laying on your back, or one between your legs while sleeping on your side, can not only ease stress on the spine, but can also help to cease nighttime movement.

If allergies are lending to your nighttime noises, try a sterile saline spray instead of an antihistamine just before bed. If you must take an antihistamine, use it in the morning so it doesn’t interrupt your sleep.

2. Exercise & Lose Weight

Exercising helps ease snoring in multiple ways. When you tone your arms, shoulders, chest, and other muscles in that general area also helps you to tone your throat. When your throat is strong, you decrease snoring related to a too-relaxed or weak throat. Exercise also helps by generally keeping you healthy. Healthier people are less likely to snore because they are strong, and because they tend to have stronger immune systems.

Exercise, of course, helps you to lose weight, as well. People who are overweight are much more likely to snore, because they have extra pressure put on their throat and chest. Overweight people are also more likely to suffer from sleep apnea, which is a rare but potentially life threatening disease where individuals temporarily cease breathing in their sleep. Even as little as five pounds could cause snoring and other health issues, so if you’ve been saying you were going to exercise but have yet to get around to it, now is the time for action.

Additional Tips

Always ease into an exercise program slowly. If you’d like to make running your cardio, for example, you would start by walking, followed by intervals, followed by running. Keep it down to a minimum at first, and slowly add miles onto your route.

When losing weight, its important to know that slow is better. Up to two pounds in average/moderately overweight individuals is healthy. Obese individuals may healthily lose up to four pounds per week in the beginning without consequences.

Weight loss is easier with support. Find a friend or family member who would also like to lose weight, and do it together. This can greatly increase your results and resolve.

3. Change Your Pillows

We bet you didn’t know that your pillows could contribute to your snoring, did you? Why is that? Well, your pillows are made of soft materials, which easily trap allergens inside of them. These allergens can be extremely difficult to get rid of once they’ve settled into place. As a result, you could actually be triggering your allergies just by laying down in your bed at night! This should be one of the very first things people do to stop snoring if they know they have indoor or seasonal allergies of any kind.

A good idea for allergy sufferers is to buy a protective covering for their pillows. These coverings are made out of plastic or vinyl, or any other number of protective materials. These materials are much less likely to hold allergens than cotton and polyester are. You simply place the covering over your bare pillow, and zip or tie it up. Place your normal pillow case over the top of that one, and you’re all set!

Additional Tips

Remember it isn’t just your pillow itself. Pillow cases can hold allergens as well, which is why its suggested you wash your pillowcases every other day if at all possible. At least every three days.

If you’re buying a new pillow anyways, you may want to invest in a special pillow designed to help ease snoring. These are designed at an angle which will support your neck, shoulders, and head.

Allergy suffers with snoring problems will also want to wash their sheets and comforters more often than others. Once or twice a week is good for sheets, while every 1 ½ weeks is a good for comforters. Definitely don’t wait longer than two weeks.

4. Stay Well Hydrated

There are three reasons why inadequate hydration leads to snoring. The first reason is that dried out nasal passages and throat lead to ‘vibrations.’ These vibrations occur because there is no natural lubrication to stop them, and the result (in addition to snoring) is waking up with a sore throat. The second reason is especially important for allergy sufferers. Nasal and sinus secretions become thicker when you are dehydrated. Water naturally things them out so you can get rid of them. The thicker these secretions are, the more you will be blocked or ‘stuffed up’ and the more you will snore. The third reason is that dehydration is detrimental to your overall health. It can cause many health problems, a lot of which may contribute to snoring.

Experts recommend getting at least eight glasses of water per day. This is equivalent to roughly four average-sized water bottles. There are certain cases in which you should drink more water throughout the day, however. A few of these reasons would be if you’re pregnant, breast feeding, exercise, live in extremely hot/cold climates, live at a high elevation, are sick, drink alcohol, and/or are taking medications.

Additional Tips

Don’t chug your water, or it won’t be doing you as much good as you think. Sip water throughout the day for best results.

Always carry water with you when out in the heat, or exercising.

Drink BEFORE you’re thirsty. By the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

These four surprising remedies can help you to ease or completely do away with your nighttime snoring. Implement them now, before the issues become worse than they already are. Your body – and your partner – will thank you profusely.